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Artist Statement:
Contemporary Tachism: The
Black and White Paintings of
Misha Bittleston
by Alfred Jan
After World War II,
parallel expressionist,
subjectivist art movements
influenced by Existentialist
philosophy developed in
America and Europe. American
Abstract Expressionist painter
Franz Kline's exclusive use of
black and white mirrored the
European Tachists who dripped,
blotted, and stained black
pigment on to white surfaces.
Tachism was in large measure a
reaction against the
controlled intellectualism of
previous geometric
abstractionist schools of
painting.
Although Bittleston had
painted all his life, he came
to his current work after a
collection of written
aphorisms was stolen and never
recovered. He evolved from
intuitive textual writing to a
kind of automatic gestural
action painting, but on an
intimate scale, in
contradistinction to the huge
bombastic Abstract
Expressionist paintings on
canvas. His technique employs
inks from over the world with
unique properties of tone,
intensity, gloss, consistency,
solubility, and granularity.
Tools used to apply these inks
to paper include brushes,
towels, pen nibs, stencils,
mouth atomizers, palette
knives, razors, glue
applicators, his fingers, and
pressurized water. In addition
to traditional Tachist
techniques, Bittleston also
splashes, splatters, spits,
sprays, stipples, and scumbles
to yield preliminary results
based on randomness, chance,
and ...
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Artist Reviews:
Mysterious. Trying to
penetrate the veil that covers
dreams and visions; seeking
for meaning in the harmony of
color. His paintings often
evoke musical compositions all
wrapped in structural
harmonies of poetry. Rare
harmonies. They sometimes seem
randomly put together but they
are organized in a very
conscious way. They ...
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Collections:
Allan Henderson, Redwood City,
CA, USA
Astrid Heinonen, San
Francisco, CA, USA
C.J. Tomaino, Los Gatos, CA,
USA
Cindy Whithead, Palo Alto, CA,
USA
Dan Skinner, E. Sussex,
England
Deborah Hamilton, Santa
Barbara, CA, USA
Edith Smith, Palo Alto, CA,
USA
Elizabeth Sevison, San Diego,
CA, USA
Elliott & Susan ...
Further Information
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Exhibitions for Misha Bittleston:
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Group Exhibitions:
2004 "ReFresh Print Biennial I," Lawton Gallery, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay
2004 "2004 Biennial International Exhibition," Brad Cooper Gallery, Tampa, Florida
2004 "The 8th Annual Sacred Art Exhibition," BoxHeart Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2004 "DIGITALLY 2004 International Exhibition," ARTROM Gallery, Rome, Italy
2004 "Wall to Wall, National Juried Show," Jaffe Art Center, Norfolk, Virginia
2004 "South Bay Art Momentum Exhibition," Le Petit Trianon, San Jose, California
2004 "Gallery Row Inauguration," Phantom Gallery, Gallery Row, LosAngeles, California
2003 "33 Give or Take," The Citadel, San Jose, California
1996 "13th Annual National Juried Exhibition," Gallery 76, Wenatchee, Washington
1996 "Four Artists' Open Studios," Koret Gallery, Palo Alto, California
1996 "Preview Exhibition," Genesis Sanctuary For The Arts, San Jose, California
1995 "Same Old Radiance," Coffeetopia, Boulder Creek, California
1994 "National '94 Exhibition," Schoharie County Arts Council Gallery, Cobleskill, New York
1994 "Retrieval Of Radiance," Brewberry's, Oakland, California
1994 "100 Of The Best, Invitational Exhibition," Stanford, Palo Alto, California
1993 "Party Of The Year," Elizabeth Norton Gallery, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, California
1993 "Walkabout Art Show," Spirals Gallery, Palo Alto, California
1993 "Works On Paper 1993," Koret Gallery, Palo Alto, California
1992 "Where Art Meets Architecture," Spanish Village, Palo Alto, California
1990 "Autumn Art Show 1990," Neale House, East Grinstead, West Sussex, England
Solo Exhibitions:
2004 "While Joy Was Sleeping," Phantom Galleries, San Jose, California
2003 "Black & White Works on Paper," diPietro Todd, Palo Alto, California
1996 "Larger Works," Stanford Art Spaces, Stanford University, Stanford, California
1996 "Can I Call You a Nobody?," Coffee Society, Cupertino, California
1996 "Selected Paintings," East West Café, Sebastopol, California
1994 "Darkness Shines Like Light," Bryant Street Gallery, Palo Alto, California
1994 "An Exhibition of Art and Philosophy," Cafe Sophia, Palo Alto, California
1994 "Imitations of the Impossible," The White Raven, Felton, California
1993 "New Watermedia Paintings," Richard Sumner Gallery, Palo Alto, California
1993 "33 Paintings & Drawings," Caffe Sangiovese, Redwood City, California
1993 "Religion, Myth & Imagination," Waldorf School of the Peninsula, Los Altos, California
1993 "Neo Symbolist Paintings," Cafe Borrone, Menlo Park, California
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